It is time for the Government of India to send an urgent fact finding mission to Tamil Nadu to ascertain the reasons behind the death of farmers in the districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Tiruchirappalli, Nagapattinam, Cuddallore and Pudukottai, popularly known as the Cauvery Delta Districts as these districts lie along the banks of River Cauvery.
leaders of political parties and farmers’ associations claim that more than 100 farmers died due to crop failure during the last one month alone. A report from Nagapattinam district said on December 31, 2016, eight farmers died in 24 hours and the reason is crop failure.
The North East Monsoon, which accounts for 50 per cent of Tamil Nadu’s annual rainfall, has been a total failure this year, according to meteorologists. “The three month long North East Monsoon brought in only 16 cm rainfall instead of the average 42 cm rainfall. This is a large deficit which is unbridgeable,” S Balachandran, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, Chennai, told The Pioneer.
Balachandran said the North East Monsoon bade farewell to Chennai on December 31 and there is no possibility of any big rainfall in the coming months. This does not augur well for Tamil Nadu as the State is reeling under a draught like situation. The south west Monsoon failed to replenish River Cauvery and this led to Karnataka cutting short the quantity of water it has to release to Tamil Nadu as per the award of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal. A legal war is on in the Supreme Court over the quantum of water Karnataka has to release to Tamil Nadu in a draught year even as farmers in both the States reel under draught like situation.
“The sad thing is that the Dravidian parties which have been alternately ruling Tamil Nadu between themselves since 1967 have not done anything to address the shortage of water faced by the State. They were playing drama in front of the farmers. The DMK and the AIADMK are still obsessed with the Cauvery River. Had there been no Cauvery, I don’t know what these parties would have done to stay afloat,” said RV Giri, president, Consortium of Indian Farmers Federations.
Ponnuchamy Ayyakannu, the maverick farmer leader from Tiruchirappalli, claims that though the five Cauvery Delta districts account for 29 lakh acres of farm land , only five lakh acres is under cultivation with the help of wells and bore wells. “The remaining 24 lakh acres have become dry land due to water crisis as there is no water in the Cauvery River,” said Ayyakkannu who is in an agitating mood.
The failure of south west monsoon which feeds the Cauvery creates not only draught but law and order situation in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, pointed out Giri and Arpathi Kalyanam, another farm leader from Nagapattinam. With the failure of both the Monsoons in 2016, Tamil Nadu is in for an unprecedented draught as well as drinking water shortage in coming months which would get aggravated by drastic fall on farm output.